25 Signs That Middle Class Families Have Been Targeted For Extinction

By Michael Snyder, on April 16th, 2012

The middle class in America is being systematically wiped out, and most people don’t even realize what is happening. Every single year, millions more Americans fall out of the middle class and become dependent on the government. The United States once had the largest and most vibrant middle class in the history of the world, but now the middle class is rapidly shrinking and government dependence is at an all-time high. So why is this happening? Well, America is becoming a poorer nation at the same time that wealth is becoming extremely concentrated at the very top. At this point, our economic system is designed to funnel as much money and power to the federal government and to the big corporations as possible. Individuals and small businesses have a really hard time thriving in this environment. To most big corporations these days, workers are viewed as financial liabilities. Most corporations want to reduce their payrolls as much as possible. You see, the truth is that most corporations want to be just like Apple. If you can believe it, Apple makes $400,000 in profit per employee. Big corporations don’t care that you need to pay the mortgage and provide for your family. Their goal is to make as much money as possible. And most of the control freaks that run our bloated federal government don’t care much about middle class families either. To many politicians and federal bureaucrats, middle class families are “useless eaters” that are constantly damaging the environment with their “excessive” lifestyles. In this day and age, neither the federal government nor the big corporations really have much use for middle class Americans, and that is really, really bad news for the the future of the middle class family in America.

There are three key factors that are constantly chipping away at the middle class….

-Globalization

-Inflation

-Taxes

Labor has become a global commodity, and American workers are often 10 to 20 times as expensive as workers on the other side of the world are. Middle class jobs (such as manufacturing, etc.) have been leaving this country at an astounding pace. Competition for the jobs that remain has become extremely fierce, and this has driven wages down. The following is from a recent article in the New York Times….

But in the last two decades, something more fundamental has changed, economists say. Midwage jobs started disappearing. Particularly among Americans without college degrees, today’s new jobs are disproportionately in service occupations — at restaurants or call centers, or as hospital attendants or temporary workers — that offer fewer opportunities for reaching the middle class.

As paychecks have stagnated, the cost of living has continued to escalate. Middle class families are finding that their paychecks simply do not go nearly as far as they did before. This is creating a tremendous amount of financial stress in households all over America.

Meanwhile, our politicians are taxing the middle class like crazy. Most people only focus on federal and state income taxes, but that is only a small part of the story. As I detailed the other day, our politicians are taxing us in literally dozens of different ways and it is almost always the middle class that ends up getting hit the hardest.

If America wants to be great again, it is going to need a thriving middle class. But right now the federal government and the big corporations are gobbling up all of the power and all of the money and the middle class is shrinking rapidly.

If current trends continue, eventually there will not be much of a middle class left.

The following are 25 signs that middle class families have been targeted for extinction….

#1 Over the past several decades, millions upon millions of middle class Americans have been systematically turned into government dependents. Back in 1960, social welfare benefits made up approximately 10 percent of all salaries and wages. In the year 2000, social welfare benefits made up approximately 21 percent of all salaries and wages. Today, social welfare benefits make up approximately 35 percent of all salaries and wages.

#2 Unemployment is at epidemic levels and the vast majority of the new jobs that have been “created” in recent years have been low paying jobs. Of those Americans that do have a job at this point, one out of every four works a job that pays $10 an hour or less.

#3 The “working poor” is a group that is rapidly growing in this country. If you can believe it, the United States actually has a higher percentage of workers doing low wage work than any other major industrialized nation does.

#4 Over the past several decades, the percentage of low income jobs has steadily increased. Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.

#5 The way that our economic system is structured today, almost all of the economic rewards go to the very top of the food chain. The following is how income gains in the United States were distributed during 2010….

-37 percent of all income gains went to the top 0.01 percent of all income earners

-56 percent of all income gains went to the rest of the top 1 percent

-7 percent of all income gains went to the bottom 99 percent

#6 Several decades ago, there was a much more even distribution of income in this country. Back in the 1970s, the top 1 percent of all income earners brought in about 8 percent of all income. Today, they bring in about 21 percent of all income.

#7 As the middle class shrinks, the number of “low income” and “poor” Americans is rapidly rising. Today, approximately 48 percent of all Americans are currently either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty.

#8 Manufacturing jobs once enabled huge numbers of Americans to enjoy a middle class lifestyle. Unfortunately, those jobs are leaving this country at a breathtaking pace. Back in 1940, 23.4% of all American workers had manufacturing jobs. Today, only 10.4% of all American workers have manufacturing jobs.

#9 In the old days, any man that was willing to work hard and wanted a job could get one. Today, there are millions of American men sitting on their couches at home wondering why nobody will hire them. Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.

#10 The middle class is shrinking at the same time that America is getting poorer as a nation. In the middle of the last century, the United States was #1 in the world in GDP per capita. Today, the United States is #13 in GDP per capita.

#11 Every year now, we see millions of Americans fall out of the middle class. In 2010, 2.6 million more Americans descended into poverty. That was the largest increase that we have seen since the U.S. government began keeping statistics on this back in 1959.

#12 The shrinking middle class is having a disproportionate impact on children. At this point, approximately 22 percent of all American children are living in poverty.

#13 In the old days, most Americans grew up in middle class neighborhoods. Sadly, this is no longer true. In 1970, 65 percent of all Americans lived in “middle class neighborhoods”. By 2007, only 44 percent of all Americans lived in “middle class neighborhoods”.

#14 The concentration of wealth at the very top of the food chain is astounding. Right now, over 50 percent of all stocks and bonds are owned by just 1 percent of the U.S. population.

#15 When you concentrate too much power in the hands of the federal government and the big corporations, it is inevitable that massive amounts of wealth will become concentrated in just a few hands. In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.

#16 There is nothing wrong with making money, but there is something wrong with a game where individuals and small businesses cannot compete fairly. According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans now have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined.

#17 When the number of poor people rapidly expands in a society, that is a recipe for social unrest. At this point, the poorest 50 percent of all Americans collectively own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.

#18 The hidden tax of inflation is absolutely devastating middle class families all over America. Since 1970, the U.S. dollar has lost more than 83 percent of its value. Any dollars that middle class families try to save are constantly losing a little bit more value every single day.

#19 American workers that try to play by the rules find that they are constantly fighting a losing battle. According to one study, between 1969 and 2009 the median wages earned by American men between the ages of 30 and 50 dropped by 27 percent after you account for inflation.

#20 In recent years, many middle class families have seen their paychecks get smaller. Median household income in the United States has fallen 7.8 percent since December 2007 after adjusting for inflation.

#21 In recent years, many middle class families have seen many of their basic expenses absolutely soar. For example, health insurance costs have risen by 23 percent since Barack Obama became president.

#22 Just turning on the lights and heating their homes has become a major burden for many middle class families. Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.

#23 Just putting gas in the car has become a major financial ordeal for millions of hard working Americans. The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States has increased by more than 100 percent since Barack Obama became president.

#24 Sadly, government dependence is now at an all-time high, and that is the way that many among the elite like it. When Barack Obama took office, there were 32 million Americans on food stamps. Now, there are more than 46 million Americans on food stamps. In particular, an astounding number of children are on food stamps right now. At this point, approximately one-fourth of all American children are enrolled in the food stamp program.

#25 Many middle class families will not be in the middle class for too much longer. According to a shocking new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, 200,000 U.S. households will use the money from their tax refunds this year “to pay for bankruptcy filing and legal fees“.

Unless major changes are made on a national level, the middle class is going to continue to disappear.

If you are playing the game the way that the system tells you to play it and you expect to live a middle class lifestyle for many years to come there is a good chance that you will be deeply disappointed at some point.

Millions upon millions of Americans have done everything that the system told them to do and the system has still failed them. They got good grades all the way through school, they went to college, they worked really hard, they stayed out of trouble and they gave everything they could to their employers. In spite of all that, millions of hard working families have still lost their jobs and their homes in recent years.

Do not trust that the system will take care of you, and you should not trust that the government will take care of you either.

We don’t need the federal government to hand out more money to everyone. Government handouts are already at record levels and the government is not even coming close to paying for all of this reckless spending.

More government spending is not going to solve any of our problems.

Instead, what we need is an environment where the size and power of the federal government is limited and the size and the power of the big corporations is limited. We need an environment where individuals and small businesses can thrive and compete fairly.

Unfortunately, neither major political party is going to move us in that direction, so there is not much hope for solutions on the national level any time soon.

On an individual level, we can all learn how to prepare for the very difficult years that are coming. It is imperative that we all work to become more independent of the system, because the system could fail at any time.

If you have blind faith that your job will always be there and that the federal government will rescue you if the economy crashes then you are likely to be bitterly disappointed at some point.

The truth is that our economy is slowly dying and the great American middle class is being systematically wiped out.

Many of the things that worked in the past are not going to work any longer.

You can choose to adapt or you can suffer the consequences.

Our world is rapidly changing, and we all need to prepare for what is coming.

I feel the govt has raised the costs associated with hiring people to now exceed the net value the employee can produce for the company. I think companies want folks to afford their mortgage but no all the insurances, taxes, sick leave, pregnancy time off,health, perks, union scale wages, new car payments, having to many children they can not afford, vacations and more.

Sadly most folks are just not worth those costs.

I ran my own shop/business and retired at 50 debt free. I never hired one person and did it/ran it all myself. Thus quality control was kept, I kept all the cash and I earned more than other shop/business owners whom I competed with who had several employe or more. I learned to sublet some work to another shops at times to have their employee do the specialty work and I got a discount and marked that back up again while I was still earning wages doing other work at my shop/business. The specialist was their worry to keep employed… Ten years later they are still struggling with new faces behind their counters every year. I am sitting here retired in the countryside pecking on a lap top.

Now tell me hiring people is a good thing? Not always. It is also how you play the game…. as in all things in my life I play to win.

Armel

“If you are playing the game the way that the system tells you to play it and you expect to live a middle class lifestyle for many years to come there is a good chance that you will be deeply disappointed at some point.”

That’s what so hard about all of this….everyone wants to do what’s right, what’s honest, what’s by the book and what aligns with Christian principles that originally set forth to build this nation. But playing the game the way that the system tells you to play it is becoming harder and harder to justify. What do we do?

Michael–nice to see you take a break from bashing the poor and finally focus on the real problem–how the rich and corporations have so much wealth and income they purchased the gov/supreme court etc.

“In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined”.

And yet we have a political party GOP who refuses to tax the rich even though the rich do not even come close to paying their fair share.(See rates of taxes in the 1950’s)

Yes the dems also suck but suck way less. They are at least rational for the most part. There is a progressive caucus budget that is getting little attention yet it balances the budget which the GOP golden boy paul ryan does not do. There are no insane Paul Ryans in the dems. There is no one who worships an atheist ayn rand. The dems did not sign a tax pledge with grover.

The gov needs to tax the rich hard and spread the wealth and level the playing field. No one else even remotely has the power to do this. and yes I hate relying on the gov, however, better them than some private corporation that is only concerned with making a profit.

The only thing I can respect Paul Ryan (my rep gag) for is that he is putting the GOP priorities out there for anyone to see. He is not even trying to hide that they represent the 1% and want to throw the poor/middle class under the bus. The choice is clear.

Again for the record the dems also suck but they are not irrational and I can work with them to change the party from within as I work for third/fourth etc parties like OWS.

Michael did not specifically say the word underemployment, however, he nicely describes it and its consequences. As Van Jones said in his new book “Rebuilding The American Dream” its the quality of the jobs that also count, not just the raw numbers. Making a bunch of low pay walmart jobs is not progress.

PatHenry2012

Interesting Gary, you actually see a difference in the two parties. Left wing, right wing. Just two wings of the same bird of prey to me. Is it not strange that a bird of prey clutches the constitution or the word liberty in its talons? Birds of prey in my neck of the woods only do that when they are planning on a meal.

Personally I believe the whole system is a sham and ALL the politicians only have a vested interest in themselves, regardless of party affiliation. I know you have a family and love your kids, you really can’t have THAT much hate in you……. 🙂

Cinderella Man

You are wasting your time BenjiK Gary will never see the light until the train smacks him in the face. They say that hell is a place with no reason and poor Gary is in a living hell.

Benjik

You’re definitely onto something C-Man, but if we can persuade ‘ol Grumpy Gary to let go of just some of that deep-seeded hatred maybe it will be enough to lift the blinders just slightly, exposing the bigger picture for him. Imagine what might be accomplished if our furry blue friend used all that energy fighting the WHOLE problem, not just half of it……

gary

Gary2— You were obviosly raised by one parent with no Father authority and no conservative or moral values. Your authority is always the Government. This is what I see after reading many of your opinions

gary2

raised by 2 parents, Father died in 2002 after a battle with cancer. I was with him to the end.

I do not have that much hate in me and I have repeatedly said the dems suck. They are not however insane like the republicans. Big difference. I can work with someone who is not insane.

Louise in MO

GARY 2

Whenever I see a democrat postulating on any network, they are irational, spew hate, and blame everyone else for the problems this country faces.

Barack Obama and the democrats during 2008 to 2010 whe they were in complete control made the economy FAR WORSE and there definitely was no “hope and change.” You are a fool if you think otherwise!

Trust me, we are all worse off than we were four years ago!

Jan

I grew up thinking I had to work for what I got, a lesson from my parents and grandparents. Now you want to tax those with more so there is “fairness” and “equality”? The crooked banksters should be prosecuted and jailed, for sure, but those who earned their wealth legally should not have to give most of it to you. You sound like Obama with “fairness” and “equality” — just one more way to cause division. Everyone has the opportunity (or used to) to get and education and work.

Gary2

Overheard–So I see Rick Santorum has pulled out of the presidential race, just like his preferred method of birth control.

DAS

Libs dont even know what birth control is. keep poping out babies for that government check.

Kieron

Interestingly, libs tend to be better educated than cons and often have fewer children. So there goes your ‘argument.’

Alasha

lol… 2 crass

Louise in MO

GARy 2

This remark shows what little CLASS you have!

Steve

Micheal:

I asked you this in the article before this.
But I would like your opion on this.

I have often wondered this:
Could the third world war start after China demands that we give them, all the gold in Fort Knox?
Or anything else of value that we own? Even the national forests?

Michael

Steve:

I think that tensions with China are going to steadily rise over the coming years and that down the road there will eventually be a war between the United States on one side and a Russia/China alliance on the other.

Michael

Brian

why fight with chinia when american corperations do bussiness with chinia to expand american corportations profit margins the main reason why american companines go off shore is because the american govt has alot of redtape it is the american govt that is killing american jobs besides the president dose bussiness only with coprorate america and not the pepole watch the movie howard cosel and watch how henry ford coducts himself

Louise in MO

MICHAEL

Sure corresponds the bible prophecy. I think you are absolutely right!

PatHenry2012

Gold? In Fort Knox? May be some salted bars but not real Gold the Federal Reserve stole that years ago. The battalion that has been assigned to guard Ft Knox for years has been relocated to Ft Benning. I just finished the barracks and HQ for it in the fall.

Gold in Ft Know? And Bigfoot lives in my back yard.

gary

There could acually be some Gold in Ft Knox. Im not saying it is ours or pledged for our debt. More likely stored for other countries or Leased. No; Im sure we would have sold ours long ago along with the Soc. Security money.

Kevin2

Steve

That gold is held as collateral on the national debt held by the Federal Reserve. In reality it’s no longer “ours”.

davidmpark

And to top it all off:

Many here know about my family’s predicament from previous postings. So, with that in mind, political worker bees keep coming to our home or confront us in the parking lot looking for handouts of “donations” and pledges to vote for their party or candidate.

Wrong. It’s just wrong.

JohnMc

For a overall well thought out post I disagree with this missive — “To many politicians and federal bureaucrats, middle class families are “useless eaters” that are constantly damaging the environment with their “excessive” lifestyles. In this day and age, neither the federal government nor the big corporations really have much use for middle class Americans, and that is really, really bad news for the the future of the middle class family in America.”

The fact is that ‘excessive lifestyle’ is what most corporations attempt to sell. That fancy 30′ ski boat might be excessive, but that boat will be sitting in a yard with a couple with a 3-2 ranch house making $60k a year. SkiDoo, Bayliner or Donzi would not consider that customer extraneous, but essential.

Henry Ford knew this a century ago. When Corps start to fail for lack of paying customers they will learn this again.

MB92083

Very good point made here. If current trends continue, there won’t be enough consumers to be able to buy what corporations are selling. What then?

Sid Davis

Saying a society has a large middle class is simply saying there is a normal distribution of wealth which can be described with a bell curve. 68% of the population will fall within 1 standard deviation of the mean, and 95.4% will fall within 2 standard deviations of the mean, and only ~.4% will fall beyond three standard deviations. This is a society where the man standing in the middle of society has an average amount of wealth.

I believe this is what freedom produces.

A skewed distribution of wealth is characteristic of a slave society where a small portion of the population possesses most of the wealth and the majority live close to poverty. A skewed distribution of wealth results when markets are controlled to benefit the few and the majority have what wealth they produce transferred by the system to the pockets of the few. This is what is occurring in the US today as venal politicians have sold out to corporations and other special interests who lobby for laws and regulations that give them advantage, and where the burden of taxes fall heavily on the masses.

The old saying about something that looks like a duck and quacks like a duck is a duck applies. A society that has the controls of a slave society and produces a distribution of wealth that makes us look like one big slave plantation is a slave society.

Big government has destroyed the free markets and the middle class is being driven into poverty because slave societies do not have a big middle class; it only has the small rich class with the majority of the population living in or headed into poverty.

Until there is an uprising that substantially alters our present political arrangements, the middle class will continue to become just a memory from our former age of freedom.

Social scientist, Professor Darrin Hodgetts, said New Zealand was “growing poverty”.

“It’s our growth industry and it’s growing at three times the OECD average,” Prof Hodgetts said.

According to the OECD at least one in five New Zealand children live in severe or significant hardship, while at least one in four children lived below the semi-official poverty line.

According to figures, the richest 1 per cent of the population owns three times more than the combined cash and assets of the poorest 50 per cent.

Hodgetts is an expert on homelessness and has researched the experiences of marginalised groups in New Zealand.

“Things like Working for Families have had an impact but they haven’t stopped the growth and the OECD figures are pretty conservative,” he said.

New Zealand had gone from one of the most equitable societies – in terms of income distribution – to one of the worst.

“And the cracks are getting bigger. The problem is we don’t see these things as a human rights issue.”

He said the Government was quite happy to rely on food banks to feed people.

“We signed a declaration with the United Nations that says food is a human right and people should have it, yet we don’t provide a living wage and a lot of people don’t have access to enough food.

“We need to have a frank conversation about that.”

Hodgetts is two months into an Auckland-based study called Family 100, interviewing 100 struggling families in the region about their experiences.

“There’s lots of conversations about families in need and lots of opinions about what goes on in these households, but there’s a lack of research about the realities.

“It’s no good endlessly talking about those families without actually engaging with them. When you do, you realise that a lot of these people are good parents who are really concerned about their kids and they’re doing their best.”

Hodgetts’ comments are backed by Claire Dale, a research fellow at Auckland University business school’s retirement policy and research centre and the chief editor of the Child Poverty Action Group’s flagship publication Left Further Behind.

Poverty was a growing problem that was exacerbated by the way it was dealt with, she said.

“If you privatise the support for people in poverty, or for people on welfare, or for people in need of assistance, then you are growing the industry. You are creating an industry and growing it.”

Far more people were in poverty now than had been at the start of the global financial crisis, Dale said.

She agreed poverty should be viewed as a human rights issue, and that poverty was growing faster in this country than in many other developed countries.

Child health statistics were “appalling”, with children living in crowded, damp houses getting third world diseases.

“Of particular concern is all the adolescents who aren’t in employment, or work, or education. That’s terrible. We can’t afford to lose a generation,” Dale said.

Ribiddeydo

America was 90% White in 1965 and now it is less than 65% White, due to deliberate race replacement policies, by the federal government, without a vote or discussion allowed. A growing number of people are calling this policy genocide.

Yet people still wonder why America is becoming poor, just like all the other brown countries in the world? What did you expect? All brown countries are poor.

If economics had anything to do with a country’s prosperity, why can’t they fix Africa? Africa has half of the world’s natural resources and half of the world’s most productive farmland, yet millions starve in Africa, regular as clockwork.

The same government mandated genocide, is occurring in all White countries and only White countries, so there is no where to run. Time to snap out of it. Anti-racist is a code word for anti-White.

mondobeyondo

Ummm. You’re making quite a broad generalization there.

Granted, I have not researched the statistics and statements you mentioned — i.e. America was 90% White in 1965, and now (2012?) is 65% White – or that “all brown countries are poor”.

For lack of a better explanation, I can only say those statements are racist.

Many “brown” (Latin American) countries are poor. Is it their fault? [Copy and paste, substitute “black” for brown, or “Asian” for brown.]

In order to understand why Africa, Asia and Latin America are so poor, focus on who runs those countries. No, not their “elected” leaders. The ones who REALLY run those countries. Just like the ones who REALLY run the United States.

Areyoukidding?

Wow, can’t believe how many racists there still are in the world…you have quite a simplistic understanding of things work, to put it mildly.

jaxon64

not only are your assertions, ignorant and false, they actually are the pure definition of racist ( you and Xander Cross are equals but from opposite ends of the spectrum.)

“All brown countries are poor”..ridiculous. Not even considering the GROWING economy of Brazil, one can’t ignore those poor brown countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, etc etc ( using “poor” heavy in sarcasm lest anyone misconstrue what I’m saying).
A simple answer from a simple mind..again, you Gary2 and Xander have similar basic ideology–just from polar opposite positions……

Where are the jew haters? They may as well chime in and blame all countries that harbour jews as the reason that their economies are failing while the racists are coming out into the open…..

gary2

I have been saying like forever that 95% of conservatives are racist homophobes. Why is anyone surprised by posts like these??

Benjik

I didn’t see anything in the post pointing toward conservatism, just a bunch of racial smack-talk that’s offensive and pointless. The sheer ignorance of Ribiddeydo’s post completely overshadows any political/social affiliation. People who spew filth like that are no more a voice for conservatives or libertarians than the Black Panthers are a voice for progressives and liberals.

Bob Compton

Gary2,the demon-cratic party has such a wonderful history of racial equality – you do realize, of course, that it was they who gave us Jim Crow, KKK, segregation (Wilson), Margaret Sanger’s Planned Parenthood (planned racial genocide of the blacks- look it up), LBJ’s Great Society, with its forced splitting of the family unit (start of the gang culture) of those on welfare (mostly blacks), gun control (started to keep Blacks disarmed), etc, etc. For someone in a glass house, you sure throw a lot of stones.

SandraO

Quit sterotyping! Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, etc are not “brown” countries! Many people in the Middle East have light colored skin. Brazil and much of Central and South America are not brown countries either–they have large populations of people from around the world along with many fair skinned people originally from Portugal and Spain.

Paul

Companies are not founded to make customers happy.

Their first and only goal is to make profit.

And according to Marx: For 500% profit there is no crime they wouldn’t commit.

Paul

The middle class has the hope to rise to upper class.

If you can keep that hope alive, you can exploit them until kingdom come.

Paul

“According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans now have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined.”

Yeah, but if you shout “Tax them!”, 99% of those 150 million rise to the defense of those 400, and you need to run before getting lynched.

LOL

Mr. Mojo

Because those 150 million all expect to win the lottery and become wealthy.

Paul

And nobody of the 400 wealthiest got rich by winning the lottery in the first place.

Kathy

Go ahead, Tax the heck out of rich..Bleed them dry..Then don’t whine when they put all those taxes on the products you need to live on and that you can no longer afford to pay for.. because they will..Those who might stay in the USA any way. Dont take away any of those rediiculous regulations and taxes on small businesses who actually employ more people than the big corps..Who needs them anyway.?.Get on welfare and lay up in bed all day and wait for that welfare check to roll in.. Oh wait..There won’t be enough people to keep the pay checks rolling in before long.. So then what? I guess we will see..Socialism doesnt work..never worked and never will work..New Zealand, a big socialist welfare country..1 in 4 children live in extreme poverty..We are on their path. Tax, spend, regulate and control is all liberals know how to do because they all have their hand out for someone elses money instead of studying and working to make their own..Or they have some immoral agenda they expect others to pay for and accept and to hell with thier own country as long as they get what they want..Bunch of lazy whinnning beggars..How about this.. just an idea..How about getting an education.. working hard…pay for you own immoral behavior and stop taxing and regulating your own jobs out of business..

Mr. Accurate

Because they’re RETARDED

luis

Thanks ima sale my big truck an get me a small car i dont wanna be a slave to the gas pump thank u ima prepare for the battle coming ooh yeah

tex

You don’t write enough articles like this Michael- the plain unvarnished truth! So what to do about it?

Obama has actually spent less than Bush- so it’s not just a liberal Dem thing… and if the GOP wins the White House and/or the Senate then they will gut what social services keep the poor alive while cutting taxes on that top .01 or 1 percent some more… and your facts and figures demonstrate that the trickle down effect is just a fantasy… hope springs eternal!

Everybody hates taxes, but we are not taxed most of the countries in the G20 in spite of rants to the contrary. The problem is not taxation, its spending and out of control growth (and lack of accountability) in the federal bureaucracies- all of them.

I don’t know what the solution is but to carry on in the manner that the nation has been traveling for the past 25 years is insanity. The way things are going there won’t be a nation in another 25.

SandraO

Wrong! Obama has not spent less than Bush! In October of 2008, U.S. national debt was $10 Trillion dollars. Now, after just three years under Barack Obama, our debt is at $15.3 Trillion. Deficit spending during Obama’s four years in the White House (based on his own figures) will be an estimated $5.170 trillion. The previous record for most deficit spending during a presidency was set by President George W. Bush. During Bush’s 8-year administration, total deficit spending was $3.402 trillion. It’s $1.768 trillion less than deficit spending in just four years under Obama. Per year, deficits under Bush averaged $425 billion. Per year, deficits under Obama (according to his own numbers) will average $1.293 trillion — or more than three times as much.

WAKE PEOPLE!

teeter

I strongly believe we should have a poor man as the president in stead of all these rich asses i dont think they could do any more damage than has allready been done.

Louise in MO

I totally disagree….I don’t want a poor man in the White House. I want someone who has worked hard and lived the American Dream. On the other hand I don’t want a rich person who made their wealth on the backs of hardworking American citizens.

The class warfare crap is beginning to disgust me. I’m not wealthy because of my own decisions earlier in life. I am, however, living a life that millions of people in poor countries would consider “wealthy.”

Please consider yourselves most lucky to live in the USA. We aren’t perfect but better than any alternative country I can think of.

Saq

…so far. Give Amerika another 10 years and see where we will be.

William

Bush expanded the size, cost and scope of the federal government to a level that the most wild-eyed Democrat could not have dreamed, all on borrowed money. The failed Obummer, a product of the Illuminati, just as with Clinton, has done nothing to fix this. The next president, Romney, is again the selection of the Illuminati/Bilderberger/Freemason cartel, whose goal is the destruction and subjugation of America, which means the crushing of the “middle class”. WAKE UP!

Evie

The article does not tell you what you should do to adapt. People will take government aide until it runs out. Isnt that what the elite do? If people do not takr welfare it only goes to china or corporations. American citizens are entitled to the aide till it runs out.

Tobrojo

My father told me when I was ateenager thatje heard back in the 80’s that “in the future” there would be either the one or two person mom and pop companies or the mega corporations. Ones that had no waste or ones that could afford it.

Rowell

All very poignant examples of how the middle class is being destroyed. The question that remains is:

How do we turn it around when both political parties, the bankers, the brokers, the wealthy, the big corporations and the special interest groups are fighting to flush the middle class down the crapper?

Mr. Mojo

That’s why the second amendment exists.

hecatesmoon

It can’t be fixed now. It would require revolt, revolution. Most people don’t truly see a problem, and most people are too soft anymore to stand up.

Easy Rider

Big government is the problem, not big corporations. It was big corporations that provided America’s middle class decent jobs in the past. This mindset that the small entrepreneur, running a coffee shop with three employees, is going to save America’s middle class is ridiculous. By and large, small firms pay small wages. Can we all be successful one-man enterprises? Is it realistic to think that every American is going to earn a college degree? What kind of economy do you have with everyone at the top of the educational curve? You have BAs serving food at Applebees.

No, we need these “evil, greedy” large corporations to succeed if we are to ever return to having a large healthy middle class in America. The first steps towards that goal is to take the boot heel of big government off them and insure that every country plays by the same rules in today’s global economy.

Areyoukidding?

big government = big corporations. Both are parasitic organizations. They are colluding to rob the middle class.

Easy Rider

Great. Then keep working for Ed’s Bagel Shop at minimum wage. I don’t care.

Paul

So Wal Mart pays more?

Easy Rider

Yes with better benefits.

Rancher

Tony,

Your site link has pictures of someones home turned into a neighborhood survival location. Just want to mention whoever that person is will surely die as they are set up in a subdivision and one can see homes in many pictures right across the flimsy wood slat fences.

Lead by example my friend and learn that location ranks top of the list alongside security. That is a terrible location thus you have terrible security not to mention a spreading fire in the neighborhood which there will be no fire dept around and no water to put it out.

All one needs to do is sit on the other side or the wooden slat fence your wooden out house is against and wait for you to go inside and shut the door. Count to 30 and shoot about 8-10 rounds across the side of your outhouse around 36″ high. That person is now in a real world of shit….

They now have one less person to worry about to take over your spot. Then to wrap it up just wait until your loved ones come out to see what is taking you sooooo long. They get the same reception.

In short you give advise about prepping and doomsday yet you have doomed yourself by prepping in a subdivision with a wind turbine everyone can see and hear.

You want to talk about a target on your back??? Check the mirror next time…

Easy Rider

You couldn’t be more wrong. A home in the suburbs can be the perfect location to survive in. There is always safety in numbers. That’s why we have towns in the first place. How do you know anything about his neighbors? How do you know the neighbors aren’t equally prepared? How do you know they don’t meet and discuss plans for a common defense of their neighborhood? How do you know his next door neighbor isn’t an EMT or an RN? Maybe there are ex-military. Engineers. Folks that increase your chances for survival.

You run-to-the-woods survivalists amuse me. If your home in the hinterlands is on the tax rolls anyone can look up the address at the county tax appraiser’s website. You can’t hide. You people will be the first to come crawling back to civilization (or what’s left of it) when you figure taking out your daughter’s appendix with your Swiss Army Knife isn’t all that smart. You’re fooling yourself. If you want to hack it out in the woods, fine, but there are other, more reasonable alternatives to heading off into the woods. An armed and prepared suburban neighborhood is one of them.

hecatesmoon

Some people can’t make it out of the cities or suburbs. They don’t have the money, circumstances won’t allow it. I would love to live without neighbors for miles and miles, but it just wasn’t possible. We did the best we could with our location. I don’t live in the city, I don’t live in the suburbs, I don’t live in the town of 8000 that I’m associated with, but I do live off a little lightly traveled highway and I do have neighbors. We are considered as being in the country, but yes, id like to be even further out. Everyone will have to do the best they’re able with what they can. Really, no one will be untouchable, and it would all come down to making one right or one wrong decision all along the way, and maybe some luck or lack of it.

Jodi

Time to vent…I don’t understand why it is so hard for an employer to pay over $12hr. I worked the same job for 13 years and I was making over $16hr when I was laid-off. Between my husband and I we were bringing in a combined $70,000 a year. It’s been 6 mos since the layoff and there is no jobs to be had. The jobs that I find only want to pay $8-10hr. That is an insult! No only that I’m over qualified for most of these jobs but they don’t want to pay a good wage either. I would think if you are a good candidate with lots of experience, they would want the best and pay you well. I’m willing to work hard and I expect better pay.

Jodi

I forgot to mention…bringing down wages is what politicians and big corporations want. They need to bring our wages down to be equal with the rest of the world. It’s called redistribution of wealth.

DaytoDay

This the true reality for you… Not the rosy picture that the mainstream media and Lady Gaga paints for you…

And so, now they’ll tell you that you have to go back to school and get a college degree, but not just any college degree, they will tell you to go for your masters or preferably a Phd, because you can only get a good job with a degree… And then another set of reality will set in… you will have paid 100k to get your maters or Phd… just so you can get back to your previous $16/hr…

Sounds like a good system right?

Easy Rider

So you think *small* corporations will pay more? You think the guy that runs a local ice cream shop in a strip mall is really going to pay union type wages, provide health insurance to his two employees and their families? Really?

Benjik

“I would think if you are a good candidate with lots of experience, they would want the best and pay you well. I’m willing to work hard and I expect better pay.”

And therein lies the quagmire Jodi, with all due respect, for every 1 person who feels the way you do there are 3 more equally qualified applicants willing to work for the $8-$10 per hour. Your situation is a perfect example of the “underemployment” crisis we now find ourselves in. I wish we could place blame on just one or two factors, that would be relatively easy to solve, but it is a cumulative effect with no real answers. Just as you and your husband must search out the best “deal” on any large purchases while in this economic slowdown, so must the employers. Despite the short clips of “great” earnings of corporations we hear on the MSM, the majority of the increased earnings are actually attributed to global growth, while the majority of domestic growth is flat at best and in most cases continuing on a slow descent. However, as we have witnessed, the financial markets simply do not care where the growth/earnings are generated, here or abroad. Add in ever-increasing costs of business operation (skyrocketing energy costs) and the “fat” has to be cut somewhere. Are some corporations exploiting this trend? You bet they are and that truly is sickening. But the vast majority of small, medium and even a few large employers are nervously watching their gross-profit margin shrink while helplessly witnessing their expenditures bloat to unheard-of levels.

Sorry Jodi, guess I got a little carried away there! 🙂 The bottom line: The workforce is absolutely flooded with highly qualified workers all competing for survival and there just isn’t enough meat on the bone. I truly hope you find a permanent position with a decent wage and wish you and your family the best of luck!

While the numbers that you use and the ideas that you share are valid,The one thing that I don’t subscribe to is the idea that there is a conspiracy or hidden agenda behind our economic dilemmas.I think that bad policy,automation,dwindling low tech jobs,overpopulation,poor education,poor work habits, and many other issues have contributed to the loss of the middle class.If you look at our history,other than the period from 1950 to 1989,we never had a middle class,just rich and poor….we’re just going back to our roots.

MB92083

I wondered the same thing myself. What do the govt and the corporations gain by a disappearing middle class? The 400 -1000 richest can only buy so much, where would GDP growth come from? If there is a conspiracy, what is it’s goal?

D

They gain control.

Mr. Accurate

who the hell wants to control a poverty stricken nation anyways?
-devils advocate-

Benjik

In this economy I sometimes feel we would have a better chance at survival if we ran around in the forest with deer-hide coats during hunting season….. 🙂

Riddle me this: How close are we to financial collapse if Stuffy Uncle Ben Bernanke AND Crazy Cousin George Soros are BOTH pushing the panic button concerning the U.S. and E.U economic health????

You can mock Gary, but this data is shocking, and I cannot believe that you don’t want to do anything about it:

-37 percent of all income gains went to the top 0.01 percent of all income earners
-56 percent of all income gains went to the rest of the top 1 percent
-7 percent of all income gains went to the bottom 99 percent

As in pre-revolution France, you seem to consider this the ‘natural order of things’, and anybody that tries to change it is considered ‘socialist’ and antiamerican. Sad.

Bob Marshall

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano pointed out in his book, A NATION of SHEEP why America is in the condition it is today. Another good book by the Judge is LIES THE GOVERNMENT TOLD YOU,Myth,Power and Deception in American History.”If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be…if we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every citizen to be informed.” Thomas Jefferson.Reading and doing research seems to be a lost art.In a 1988 speech, President Ronald Reagan declared, “There seems to be an increasing awareness of something we Americans have known for some time: that the ten most dangerous words in the English language are, “Hi, I’m from the government and i am here to help.” President Reagan followed up explaining,…we need to look to a future where there’s less government in our daily lives.Today, we are looking for the same government that create crisis to be the one to fix those they created.’it is a good thing for the governments that the masses don’t think.’ Adolf Hitler. Could we add, don’t read or do their own research. By now, only the most ignorant doesn’t realize our president suffers from a Narcissistic personal Disorder.There is no known cure.President James A. Garfield put the blame where it truly lies when he said,” Now, more than ever, the people are responsible for the character of their congress.If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption.” I believe this also pertains to the president as well. Norah Webster said, “If we vote an immoral man into office we are a traitor to our country.” Something to think about in November.

Gay Veteran

hey Bob, the Federal debt started exploding under Saint Reagan

Cinderella Man

I know im feeling the heat lately. Im not middle class and I dont know if there is even any hope of joining them. I cant pay all my bills I struggle to find enough money for food and gas. I simply cant make it on these wages. Ive been promised a raise but who knows if that will happen? With all the uncertainty of Barrycare coming up I dont even know if I will have a job next year! I guess all that us wage slave working class heroes can do is pray that we can somehow make it through this… I dont see any help on the horizon. Ron Paul is a great man but there are far too ignorant a-holes that live in this country and he will never be elected or the voting machines will simply steal it from us anyway. Im starting to think El Pollo is right… we are turning into a turd world dictatorship more and more everyday.

Benjik

Hey C-Man, here’s a few links for you to check out. Granted, none of them will turn your situation around immediately, but still a few great ideas and hopefully ease your mind a bit and maybe even inspire a little bit of hope brother…..

Government and business are one in the same and we have been conditioned to need them. They say raw milk, rainwater, etc is bad for you all the while pumping you full of chemicals. And we buy it, we are softened, and we are dependant. We need new cars, we need the new fashions, we need, we need we need…. you know what I realized? We don’t. We can decide how much we want to give them to some extent at least. You can grow food, even in an apartment. You can buy used from yard sales, craigslist, etc. You can cut your electic bills, determined of course by how far you’re willing to go to do that. You can reduce water useage and bill by collecting rainwater for flushing your toilet or to water your garden or use your grey water! I drank rain water when I was a child, but I’ve long since been “programmed” against it and can’t quite break that at this point. I’m trying to work up the nerve. Make your own household cleaners, make food from scratch. These things can all add up. There are ways to hand less of what you make to “them” if you have the grit.

hecatesmoon

ONLY use grey water for nonpotable uses! I didn’t mean to imply that you should try to drink it as I might rain water. And depending on where you live, consider learning some new skill like making soaps and candles.

mondobeyondo

“If you can believe it, Apple makes $400,000 in profit per employee. Big corporations don’t care that you need to pay the mortgage and provide for your family. Their goal is to make as much money as possible.” Bingo!!

Isn’t America a free enterprise/capitalistic society? Well, last I heard, it still is. You have an idea or a concept, you go into business with that idea or concept, the business struggles for a while, then people discover said idea/concept, and discover it’s really cool! People stand in line, or flock to your store or restaurant, waiting to buy your end product.

That’s how Apple became so big and wealthy.
And Wal-Mart. And McDonald’s. And Ford, 100 years ago.

[Somehow, I’m missing a few steps in the above equation…What went wrong??]

Wanna know what that is? These companies lost their moral souls. Money got into their collective heads. They stopped thinking about innovation and progress and instead focused on the bottom line. Profits and ledger sheets. The moment you stop focusing on imagination and innovation, and begin focusing on money, or the lack of money, or how to make even more money than last year, your business is doomed.

Exhibit A: Kodak. An innovative company in many ways. They are now bankrupt.

Kevin2

mondobeyondo

“Wanna know what that is? These companies lost their moral souls.”

When did they acquire a moral soul? It wasn’t when they had company towns or damn near beat Walter Reuther to death in 1937. It wasn’t in the 50s or 60s either because any goodness you received was because they needed your labor and the likes of Walter Reuther and John L Lewis seen to it that they were going to have to pay for it. They never treated people good because they wanted to it was because they had to. Then however came foreign competition and with it an abundance of virtual slave labor. If slavery wasn’t illegal they would employ them here and for practical purposes it is quasi legal in the developing world any their being employed at our expense.

This is not about morality because their never was any.

mondobeyondo

When these major companies were founded, their founders had the best of intentions. Sam Walton believed in “America First”. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak made a few computers in a garage, with dreams of making it big.

Unfortunately, once you reach a certain level of “bigness”, some person or organization or banking conglomerate offers you even bigger profits, in exchange for your moral soul. How do you think Nike is able to get away with making $200 Air Jordans, and paying their slave labor 2 or 3 dollars a day? Abercrombie and Fitch, too. Same with Tommy Hilfinger. (ABC’s “Nightline” recently did a story about a fire in a factory in Bangladesh. Several people were killed. The factory made Tommy Hilfinger clothing.)

Paul

Money follows a simple physical law: It can’t be at two places at the same time.

If someone earns millions, a lot of people have to earn nothing. The money has to come from somewhere.

Unless you borrow the money, but if all those millions are just borrowed, when is the right time to demand them back?

Does the “free enterprising spirit” of America mean, that people have the right to create slaves in order to get rich?

If you can get rich by honest and hard work, where are all those millionaire nurses? Or does America have no honest and hardworking nurses?

Clydene

I am totally aware and have thought about this a lot. I keep coming up with – to know the future, you must know the past. Yes, the top percent is making a push to destroy the middle class but let me clue you in on a few things that are evident from past history. Check it out for yourself. When this kind of attempt is made, even if there is economic disaster and a crash, the middle class working Joe always comes through and survives these hardships. The ones who do not are many at the top who don’t get it – you can’t eat money or your expensive car or your 6,000 square foot home. These are the folks who jumped out of buildings in the great depression and had to come down to earth one way or the other.

Who came through, the great working class who knows how to survive and take care of basic needs of life. They are the survivors and the glue that holds our nation together.

When our founding fathers came to America, a bunch of fancy dans arrived and starved to death in the colonies because they hadn’t a clue but when commoners were sent to the colonies, it began to thrive. The Revolutionary War broke up the hold of wealthy land bearers and created the largest growth in American’s history.

Yes, it is happening again. When the middle class no longer feeds the greedy at the top, the top will implode and have to get real jobs like the rest of us.

So, there are two ways of looking at this. Yes, we in the middle class will lose some of what we have but those in the upper class will lose much more and suffer greater disasters.

In the meantime, do prepare yourself and your family for the basics your family needs. Get a compressor and store up gasoline, food, medical supplies, self protection, water, etc., but enjoy every day while waiting for the greedy bas—– at the top to come falling down.

I couldn’t agree more with this assessment. There is no way that the average dual earner family of today has a year’s worth of savings to live off, in the eventuality of a job loss, and yet, (at least for the moment) retail spending is up, and as another poster said in an earlier column, store shoppers are loading up on home electronics again etc. It is this disconnect that so amazes me. It seems to be some sort of mass delusion.

Brent

RalphBarnes

The middle class as well as the lower class, the bums, have nobody except themselves to blame. Prices as well as taxes have been increasing slowly for years and years. Anyone with brains could see it happening since the early 80’s. Go to college and get a degree or switch careers, but oh no, they kept their same jobs etc and now they cry poverty.

It’s not the governments fault, its the dummies that decided to be middle class or less.

Saq

what planet are you from? Haven’t you been reading the posts here? A lot of these people have college degrees, have gotten laid off, can’t find a decent job due to being over qualified, and still have bills to pay. While the 99% are not blameless in this mess, it wasn’t us that conspired to bankrupt our once great country. It also wasn’t us that started are these wars….. sheesh. Get a grip.

Evie

The corporations are the government or they would not require subsidies from the govetnment. Money on the sidelines is used for lobbies and not to pay their workers. Yet they expect us to buy at their inflationary prices.

Easy Rider

Don’t forget the 50% of American individuals that get government subsidies.

puzzled

There is only one way out of this mess: WW3. And the elites know it…

Easy Rider

Really? How does that work?

D

Distraction. Fear. Chips. P/R/S

Peter

What I have learned, think about it!
1) All fear articles are put forth by people that would probably be GOP. I like the positive outlook like President Obama puts forth (although I’m independent)
2) This economic problem CAN be solved IF we all worked together to make it happen.
3) ALL government employees including the 3 branches of government should be taking a graduated salary CUT from 10 – 25%. Until this happens our government isn’t serious about fixing this ecomonic problem. Cut our income not theirs is their attitude.
4) The wealthy in our country DO need to contribute more, who do they think does the teaching, doctoring, sales, cleaning, cooking, mailing, driving, flying, building, painting, researching, consulting ETC, ETC, ETC without ALL their support they would produce NOTHING – how conceited of them to think it’s ALL their doing!
5) Help your neighbor.

Rodster

Wouldn’t it be nice if GE paid it’s FAIR SHARE of Corporate taxes (they paid $0 in taxes) and Warren Buffet paid his $1 Billion in back taxes.

Oh wait both are DemoCRAP and Obummer supporters and the other works for the Crapmander in Chief.

This was destined to happen all along. I believe that the moment the ‘United States’ become an official country, it all began to decline. Weren’t greater freedom and prosperity present in several anarchist settlements in pre-national America?

jsmith

Michael, while I agree with all your points, I feel you left out a most important fact, something that makes me hot with anger. That is the trade deficit. Every car American’s buy from Korea, Japan and Germany, means an American that is out of work! It’s our own fault. While the rest of the nations place barriers and VAT’s on our exports, and use every trick in the book to keep our products out, we stick to the free trade agreements that are sucking our wealth. Here in California I look at the parking lots and open garages of the homes,and what do you see? Imports! So yes, you can blame corporate greed, but also blame ourselves. Remember the bumper sticker: Out of a job? Hungry? Eat your foreign car! At least I drive an American car. How many of the above posters drive American? Those unemployed people in Detroit will ultimately put other American workers in other states out of your job!!!

Michael

Don’t worry – I have done many articles about the trade deficit in the past and I will do many more soon.

You are right – it is central to so many of these issues.

Michael

Easy Rider

I drive a Toyota. Made in the USA.

When GM reimburses me for the ’75 Chevy Vega I bought from them (yeah, I’m that old), I’ll reconsider buying their products. 🙂

TX4Life

Agreed. Bought a Nissan because the Chevy dealership didn’t consider our ’96 Chevy to qualify for their “loyalty discount”. It had to be a newer Chevy. There was no trade-in required for the loyalty discount but apparently, our “loyalty” was too old.

What we are seeing is one massive socialist plan to have the world populated by 99% on minimum wage and 1% getting all the benefits. To do this America and the west has to be brought down and Asia brought up and somewhere the two will meet. I don’t think Africa is part of the plan though because of its natural resources it is engineered to be kept backward and near or at starvation levels. If you do things gradually then the vast majority of people don’t catch on to what is going on. This is fabian socialism incrementalism. When you add to this the environmental propaganda and surveillance technology then what results looks like a high tech global Nazi fascist society run as some sort of concentration camp. The Nazis killed the mentally ill and retarded with the excuse that it was for their own good and was too expensive for the state. In this present world we seem to be exceeding that by proposing to abort such people before they are even born.

nowwthen

Apple makes $400,000 profit per employee! Wow! And they don’t manufacture anything in the U.S?
Hey 99%ers Let that sink in and then try to justify your iPod, iPad, iMac, iTunes, iPhone etc. Apple — stock symbol AAPL — is the largest U.S. company by market cap at over $500 billion. Maybe it’s time to stop buying their foreign made products and bring some of those jobs to our country with a year or two of Occupy Apple.

nowwthen

And maybe along with occupying Wall Street and Apple you indebted students and graduates should consider protesting the colleges and universities to whom all your tuition money was paid. Have you ever taken a look at the number of multi billion dollar endowments these institutions have? Your education is really just a commodity that these leeches have sold you at an inflated price for the purpose of increasing their bottom lines – no different than Apple, Exxon, Walmart or any other entity primarily involved with turning a profit. But your cool professor who has a 12 hr./week work load with a month off in the winter and 3 months off in the summer will never make you aware of how badly your bag is being ripped. Who would be stupid enough to badmouth a gig like that?

Shockadelic

Globalization. Inflation. Taxes.

As usual with these articles, there is no mention of immigration.

Whatever problems there may be with government bureaucracy or big business, you are never going to solve anything when you keep artificially upping the American population by a million (legals) every year.

You not only need to create jobs for the already unemployed, but up to a million *additional* jobs for the artificial population increase.

You are the Red Queen, running faster to stay in the same place. Hopeless. Pointless.
Stop immigration or no other policy changes will work.

Come on man, you post a link to a video that is over an hour long? OK, guess how much I watched of it.

Mustard Seeds

Okaaay…whew…LOL.

It’s going to be a long, long economic collapse.

DaytoDay

Back in 2005, a friend of mine told me that middle class would be gone in 10yrs. I remembered I just laughed at him, I said, what do you mean? How can you wipe out the entire middle class?

Well, we were in high school then, and his had was a multi-millionaire who had a successful trucking business in Ohio, and I’m talking about jet setting with the owner of Abercrombie and Fitch connected…

So, now I understand and it amazes me how this 15yr old kid knew what all of us are talking about now…

And so that’s why none of this is hard for me to believe, just take a drive into the suburbs and then drive to city and you can see what’s happening… The roads in this country are abysmal, the bridges are ready to go at any time (50+ yrs old) and what do you see being built? shopping malls, restaurants, sports stadiums… and yet the roads and residential areas are falling apart… I mean, really, In what book could you find this stuff?

It’s like the guy driving a Ferrari and living in the ghetto… It’s the appearance of wealth, that makes people think they have money. Can you buy a home or a car with cash? That right there says it all… And I’m not knocking people who can’t afford to buy a house or a car, but the point that I’m making is, we live in a society where the appearance of wealth is flaunted and glorified rather than having real wealth…

I work in a business where I see this stuff everyday, people driving BMW’s, but don’t have money for a one night hotel…

Ever hear the saying “Guns or Butter”

tappedops

God bless you Mr.M.. your a reg/link over at tip-O…grats , and even though most of your readers are “limited hangout blurbers” your killing it when it comes to the newb alarm blog squad… its going to take some time to fully slap the mind controlled face but its always going to be baby steps first… and for that— the heavies do Thank you for— pound away…

Michael

Thanks for the kind words.

I do have one question – what website is the “tip-O”?

Michael

Ya’aqov ben Ya’aqov

“Quantitative easing” or (“QE2” as it has come to be known) is a foolish and destructive fiscal policy practiced by our current Administration & the “Federal Reserve”. It was a failed monetary policy, practiced by other Governments in the past such as the “Wiemar Republic” of Germany, Zimbabwe, Yugoslavia as well as many others.

Simply put, it is a monetary practice of “expanding” (or rather more correctly) “inflating” the money supply by simply printing paper currency and/or digitally adding zeros (i.e. legalized counter-fitting) to our nation’s central bank i.e. the Federal Reserve who then loans that fiat capitol to our Government to increase spending in the federal budget in a futile attempt to stimulate economic growth! Also known as “liquidity”. Since it is fiat money with no backing its consequences are obvious and predictable! Hyper-inflation, soon followed by the total collapse of the national currency!

I understand Easy rider. I also bought a ’72 Chevy Vega. Crap that I traded in for an Opel Manta ’74, and that shot down my belief in German workmanship.
I now own 2004 Ford Taurus with the performance 24 valve V6, and it has not given me any problems. Knowing the dollar is set to collapse, I will not buy anything but gold and silver. Expect a full depression within months. It is not going to get better.

Craig

So why vote republican? They openly mocked and criticized the Occupy Wall Street bunch who motto was, “We are the 99%”. Or, we are the middle class. I mean everybody hated them. Bill O’Reilly, Shawn Hannity, Neil Cavuto, Eric Kantor, everybody on World Net Daily. I mean nearly every conservative you can think of hated the “we are the 99%” group. Why vote republican and especially for a big money republican elitist like Mitt Romney who couldn’t care less about the working middle class?

What will happen when austerity hits the United States as it has in Greece?
Well, If it were to happen in the U.S. now, the consequences would be traumatic since 42 cents of every dollar spent by the federal government in the first six months of the current fiscal year was borrowed. The chaos that would be created by a reduction in federal government spending of 42% is unimaginable.

Our armed forces would have to be reduced by 42%
42% of our foreign and domestic military bases would have to be shut down.
Of our 12 aircraft carriers (or is it now 11), 5 would have to be mothballed immediately.
The same portion of mothballing would apply to our surface fleets, aircraft and armored vehicles
42% of the federal employees in Washington and throughout the US will have to be terminated
Social security check amounts would have to be reduced 42%
Medicare and Medicaid payments would have to be reduced 42%
All federal aid of any sort would have to be reduced by 42%
42% of food stamp recipients would have to have to be eliminated from the rolls
42% of all aid to dependent children would cease.
All government pensions would be reduced 42%
42% of federal aid to public schools would stop
All infrastructure maintenance support in our nation given by the federal government would be reduced by 42%
State governments are on the edge as it is; reducing federal aid by 42% and most states will start going under water.

Sorry, folks there is no silver bullet.
The above what must be done, if we want to solve the debt crisis today.
One can begin to see the level of chaos that would ensue.
Would our citizens meekly submit and say, “Yeah, we got to do this if we want to save our country.”
Yeah, right!” We are going to riot in the streets just like in Greece, UK, and Spain.
Can you begin to see why our politicians are afraid to face the issues in front of them? Why the republicans and democrats fight over how to arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic? One party wants to reduce taxes — what are they crazy? The other wants to soak the rich.
And if we do not face the issue with any kind of b_lls now, the amount that reality will force us to cut in the future will be 50%, 60%, 75%.

If you understand what a psychopath “feels” you can better understand why we are being led down this road.

Ancoisfranti

I find it amusing that people still think that they have a choice about being part of satans kingdom here on Earth or not!!! It is time that God’s people start to read their Bibles again, especially the book pertaining to the end of the world, which just so happens to be the last.

We have been ignorant for far too long… It is time that we get down on our knees, humble ourselves(U.S. gouvernment seems to be doing this for us), give our hearts to Jesus and prey like its the last chance we have to do so.

What is about to come upon this Earth is the ultimate Holy War just waiting to happen.Gouvernments are the terrorists they warn us about!.., and if you still feel that this is about economics and being middle class or not, please rethink. This is the conclusion of the GREAT CONTRAVARCY between satan and Jesus!!!

The kings of the world are in a filthy orgy of fornication with the great harlot of revelation and they shall drink from the full cup of God’s wrath.

Wake up before FEMA does that for you!!! Your concentration camps await you. You have long been without liberty. The only liberty you have left is a statue.., and she holds the light of lucifer and your leaders worship her. Ecumenism with Rome is the key to satan’s war against Christ. Ask yourselves what that makes the pope?.., or better yet, rather go back to what the reformation thought about the catholic system with their liberty(mary, isis, wahatever)

Come out of babylon my people and let you not be partakers of her sin and let you not receive of her plagues.., rather prepare for the soon coming of our ONLY Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

P.s. Check out knowthelies.com

Ancoisfranti

…ALSO FIND A CHURCH THAT WANTS NOTHING TO DO WITH ROME, because she has made war with God’s saints and will do so AGAIN..,very soon!!! Do some research and find out what day God’s Sabbath is.., see why the 10 plagues fell on Egypt in Moses’ time and then ask yourself why the politicians of the world including the United Nations(does the tower of Babel ring a bell?) and the European Union(take a look at a picture of their headquaters)are thinking of ways to implement an international day of rest. Research Sunday(worshipfull day of the sun) law.

If you thought that the dark ages were dark.., just you wait and see. It was called the dark ages because of a lack of light. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the truth and the light!!!

The world today wants nothing to do with Jesus, thus the world will be plunged into darknessness again.

It is estimated that the Roman Catholic system slaughtered 150 000 000 people(makes Stalin look like an innocent kindergarden kid).

America which was established by refugees fleeing away from the tyranny of Rome, welcomed her back via Reagan in those days. What we assume to be our leaders are but satan’s slaves and they are leading us to be slautered!!! We actually pay taxes and work our asses off for this priveledge. THINK ABOUT THAT

Ancoisfranti

In order to understand and make sense of the book of Revelation, which is written from front to middel and back to middel, meaning its climax is in the middel, one has to go back to the old testament and look at what one of God’s prophets in the time of Babylon revealed in the book of Daniel…

Things are not that bad. We are returning to how this country used to be, and that’s what everybody says they want, after all! We have had a nice soft country since 1960 and all anybody could do was complain over taxes and lazy people. We have had it good and still do, mostly, but complaints are all that is heard, so I say – let the bottom fall out and then see what kind of griping these losers can do.

Americans are spoiled, and that is the real problem. Spoiled rotten, right to the core, stupid, unthinking, and most of all – they lack the “CAN-DO” spirit. I say – import as many people from Israel, Korea, and Taiwan as we can get so there is some hope somebody will do something big and new here in the USA.

Now, if you are reading here, I probably didn’t mean you, so don’t get insulted.

Bill Fartses

We don’t need more jews, they are ruining the economy. Filthy money grubbers!

Gary2

Cenk sums it up and I agree:

You’re a jackass if you’re a non-millionaire voting for Republicans according to Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks. He shares this point after breaking down a clip of Republican Senator John Cornyn on Fox News talking about why the GOP opposes the Buffet Rule which would raise taxes on money earned after the first million dollars of income.

“I often wondered how these republican bastards could look themselves in﻿ the mirror, knowing how they’re screwing over the most helpless of us, but then I realized something! Soulless, bloodsucking vampires don’t have reflections.”

Professor Gary

Apparently the administration thinks we have nothing to worry about. They have the situation under control. This is a comment made by David Axelrod on last Sunday’s Fox News Sunday:

“The choice in this election is between an economy that produces a growing middle class and that gives people a chance to get ahead and their kids a chance to get ahead, and an economy that continues down the road we are on, where a fewer and fewer number of people do very well and everybody else is running faster and faster just to keep pace.”

As a famous pundit from the past has said:
“What me worry?”

Benjik

So by Axelrod’s own admission, he thinks Mitt is his man?! You can’t make this stuff up! 😀

Winston Smith

and, 99% voters this yr will either return Obama to White House or vote for a fairly equal bad candidate…just like in 2008…and 2004…and 2000..and….

Despite the mantra of Alex Jones that “Americans are waking up”, I see no evidence of this……none in patterns of behavior…

media already talks as if Romney won the nomination and most AMericans will go this route too…..I know evangelicals that will nto vote for Paul, desptie his much more strong moral stances, because he is not a warmonger..

Citygirl

Everyone is leaving out the effects of population growth around the planet and in the USA. The United States has numerous ways to import cheap labor – illegally, through chain migration, through visa programs, the Refugee Program…
Labor, like anything else becomes cheap when it becomes abundant. Easy to import an immigrant, their cheap labor often subsidized through the welfare systems. They can be used to replace costly, aging American workers. Much of our US farmland has been being turned into urban sprawl to house the growing population, driving up the cost of food that was once cheap and plentiful. We would not have such dire environmental problems if there were fewer people. Do you know how much farmland (or land for hunting and fishing) and how much water you need to survive for a year? Well, you have been taking it all for granted…

One of the problems with this analysis is that it skips past the fact that one of the reasons America has more workers working at low skill jobs is that America stands lower in the TIMSS rankings of which nations’ kids know more math and science.

You can’t work at a high skill job if your education didn’t include enough math and science to fit you for training for a high skill job.

lisann

Your comment isn’t showing a FLAW in it’s analysis, but showing yet another way it is absolutely correct! The federal government has made sweeping CUTS to education! If our education system has already been failing our children, what do you think these cuts will do???? Middle american children will lose ground while only the richest american children whose families can afford private school will succeed, thereby creating yet even more poor. I purposely did not capitalize americans, by the way.

new morning

the school districts are pouring plenty enough money into the system. people CAN’T pay any more school taxes. But, something everyone should understand is we don’t need $16 million dollar tracks and tennis courts for kids, we don’t need gymnasiums costing over $8million, the school districts in the affluent counties in PA spend more on sports and related facilities than some districts in PA spend on their technical training centers, (machine shop, auto, carpentry etc…) oh I forgot to mention the female tech centers curriculm like hair dresser, LPN’s etc) anyway, it’s politically incorrect for some kids to do well in math and science while others fail or barely get by, the edu. system is pretty poor. Not doing a good job at getting kids interested in the sciences. WHY??? it has to be intentional, there is not any good reason for this dumbing down of our children in this day and age.

Jason

i agree. too much luxury and ignorance. not enough good sense.

SONDRA

For over 70 years, the public school system has been dumbing down the children little by little until many American students cannot read, write or do arithmetic without a calculator. Yet the cost of education has increased every year.
If a manufacturer produced a product with a similar success rate, they would either go out of business or be imprisoned for fraud. And yet the majority of the American taxayers ante up more and more cash in higher and higher school taxes. It is a very sad state of affairs when high school graduates must take remedial reading and remedial math to enter first year college.
Teachers’ unions are as much to blame for this as is the switch from the basic topics of education for success in the real world to the waste of school hours teaching ” social justice “. Social justice courses never built a bridge that won’t fall down. Home schooled students get a much better educatiion and, as a result, score higher on college entrance exams.
Attend your local school board meetings and demand answers. Get a copy of the school budget and question where the funds are being spent. Check out the books being used in the classroom and required for assignments. Get involved We allowed this shameful situation to happen. If we are to recover our America, we must take an interest in our country. Study the Constitution and reawaken the spirt of 1776…. when this nation was given birth despite overwhelming odds against the creation of a nation built on the notion that freedom was granted by God, not by government and that we, as a nation, were free to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. God Bless America.

Michael

I cannot believe my present situation…

I worked hard in school and college so that I could escape the low income uneducated mess I grew up in.

I made all the correct decisions with my career, finances, etc. I cannot figure out how I got to where I am at now.

In late 2008 I was laid off in the IT field. I was a go-getter, and I didn’t let anyone tell me the economy would make it difficult to find a job. I had another within 4 weeks.

Was laid off from that job last year. I qualified for unemployment, but then my employer decides to bring a bunch of lawyers and fight my eligibility. After I won again, they appealed again. I finally couldn’t afford to keep paying attorney fees. I finally lost the appeal. I had to pay all that money back.

I’m still trying to find a job in my field. Being the go-getting I am, I immediately took a job waiting tables which amounted to a 75% pay-cut.

I had saved 6 months of expenses and that is completely dry. I have completely drained my retirement and savings. Still cannot find a livable wage job after almost a decade in my field.

Things are slowly going into default and it feels utterly hopeless and stressful. My pristine credit rating is gone, my savings and everything I worked for is gone. I haven’t missed a payment on my mortgage, but it is coming. I can’t cut anything more than I already have.

I just can’t figure out how this could have happened to me. I played by the rules and made all the right choices. I skipped vacations and time off to prove I was a good worker and had what it took to be a valuable employee.

I really am just at a loss at this point. I’m single and have no family. This is really make-or-break for me. I have no fallback plan. The feeling of failure is just gut-wrenching.

Too bad you didn’t inherit wealth and/or major in “investment-banking” (investing with taxpayer-guaranteed coverage for losses) and/or political science and went to work for a Wall Street Democrat or Republican Senator or Congressman.

Then, too, there’s always police-work and military science.

Except that the military are getting ready to be cut too.

So that leaves being a policeman in our Brave New Wall Street America.

G. B. Taylor, Sr.

When the people and states allowed the consentration of power being in Wash. D.C. – I submit we have fostered this condition. We have looked to Washington way too much and have assumed far too little of individual responsibilities. As a result we now are bordering on a dictatorship – and it appears that 50% of the citizens do not care or does not see that it makes a difference. Wave good bye to individual freedoms and the middle class.

Stormy

I have to disagree with aconymous! If we look at who the people who founded and made America great, not all had excellant educations. My grandparents came from average or low education in the early 1900’s, they worked hard and founded 4 business’s in their life time, which were very successful. I was taught by them and my parents that good work ethics and intergrity to the employers I worked for, made me a successful woman. (No, I did not have a college degree, thou I continued working on my education skills while I worked). Plus, I was a divorced woman with a child to raise. I never received any type of handout from the government, nor have I ever received unemployment checks.
What I do believe is we need to bring back the jobs to this country we have lost. We started seeing back in the 70’s many jobs disappearing, steel mills closing and many of our manufacturers moving from the United States. NAFTA did nothing to help our economy. With much consideration and emotional discussion, the House of Representatives approved NAFTA on November 17, 1993, 234-200. The agreement’s supporters included 132 Republicans and 102 Democrats. NAFTA passed the Senate 61-38. Senate supporters were 34 Republicans and 27 Democrats. Clinton signed it into law on December 8, 1993; it went into effect on January 1, 1994.[2][3] Clinton while signing the NAFTA bill stated that “NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good-paying American jobs. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t support this agreement.”
As, we see the people that govern our country…we have been on a slippery slope declining. I do not see a great future for my grandchildren here in America. Educated or not!

anonymous

One cannot learn math and science when the education system has emasculated learning styles with opinion and lack of memorization of core principles.

Steve MacMillan

THE ONLY PERSON RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT THAT CAN TRULY REVERSE MANY OF THESE TRENDS IS RON PAUL.

new morning

you are correct, but, we know this isn’t going to happen. the best we can hope for is that the Romney people reach out to Ron and pull him into their team. Both parties are gaming us and I don’t see a nickels worth of difference in them. I remember when BO said ‘well they had the keys to the car for 8 years and they drove it into the ditch, well now if they don’t like our change they can just sit in the back seat’ I think I’ve got that pretty close. Anyway I laughed bkz the truth is does anyone really think they care (the republicans) about sitting in the back seat for 4 or 8 years. After all they’re still in the car and eventually they do get to drive again while we the taxpayers make it all possible. Either this adm. is deliberately tearing this country down or they’re not very smart. I find it hard to believe the latter. website to read and pass on to everyone u know republicoftheunitedstates.org go to History enjoy the info if it’s new to you. God Bless America

Charlotte

I have a degree and cannot find a job. It is very disappointing when a prospective employer offers only eight or nine dollars an hour for job that used to pay 15-20 dollars an hour. It is onlygoing to get worse from here, especially if nobama gets re-elected.

Gloria Wedemeyer

A lot of this is because of government regulations. When you can go to another country and get people to work for less and pay lower taxes to get something made, why not do it. If this adm were smart, they would place 0% tax on businesses so they would bring the jobs back to America. Also, the people are also responsible.
When they started making clothes overseas, the people bought the clothes to save a few bucks and did not support “American made” Same with the autos etc. One day I decided to only buy completely American made and could hardly find anything.

new morning

we need lower taxes and less regulations. but, if the goal is to tear down the country that won’t happen. Pbm is 750Million dollar presidential campaigns, that’s what BO spent in 08 and McCain spent almost $400million. that adds up to alot of favors people and don’t kid yourself about the dems not having close ties to BIG $ and Corp.America. The best we can do is vote all of them out after one term of service, doesn’t matter if they’re John McCain or Harry Reid at some point people we need to recognize the only hope to make them think of us and really represent our best interest is RE-ELECT NO-ONE…

It is simply U.N. Agenda 21. There are ways to stop the infiltration into our communities. We don’t need to prepare for what is coming, we need to stop it. Go to the link, find out what it is and how to fight back.http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/

Anonymous

This is a excellent blog.
You are doing America a great justice by improving the awareness of it’s people.

Evie Wilson

Seven years ago I was making six figures to almost no figures today.I am back at University re-inventing myself at the tender age of 52. All savings, retirement and the hard work of my youth gone. The future unknow. Glad that my faith is keeping me and my husband focus in what really matters. Our love for each other and God.

FR

I am old enough to know how great this country used to be. Back before governments of all stripes began their assult of excessive taxation and excessive regulation. Until all government is beaten back and caged, the onslaught will continue. “Government” is the great white shark, threatening to eat us all alive.
The radical, oppressive and unlawful Obama regime has got to be run out of town ASAP or God help us.

new morning

a recently found site I think we should all visit and consider it’s info republicoftheunitedstates.org start with History pass this site to others

Washington

Normally I don’t do this, but I heard about this on a radio show going to work. I would like to share it with everyone. There is truth in what he is saying. All major religions address his point of view. Preacher using the ‘F’ word in Church (A must see)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d8fV7ONAxM

fly right

As other people have commented, NAFTA is just one piece of the trend that is taking jobs away from American workers. Here is what we need to do to get jobs back: we need to support people in other countries in their struggles to have a better life. When workers in China, Bangladesh, and Columbia have the right to the legal protections that US citizens have, they will be able to organize for better pay and better working conditions. What does this have to do with the US? Simply that when people in China and other third world countries get paid more, the profit equation will not be so slanted toward manufacturing overseas and more manufacturing jobs will return to the U.S.

Linards

Well, I only have one thing to say. Vote for Ron Paul. RON PAUL IS THE ONLY WAY AMERICA IS GOING TO GET OUT OF POVERTY.

Dorothy Margraf

Back in 1966 a book came out that explains why the middle class is disappearing. Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World In Our Time by Carroll Quigley. The author, a Carroll Quigley (1910-1977) was an American historian, and also a professor at Georgetown University. He was Clinton’s mentor. The author describes how the government is run by the elite who plan our future. There is a chapter describing how it was planned for the middle class to disappear because it was a useless group. Although he does not go into detail about the connection, what he described was the New Age movement that began politically organizing in about 1915. Only by knowing what the larger picture is can what is going on be fought.

Jerry

The middle class is all but gone today. We are going to see it get worse and
worse.

If you want to survive in the new economy you are going to need to prepare
yourself now and not later. There is not much time left.

Find out what the ultra rich are doing and copy that and you have a fighting
chance of making it.

If we don’t do something fast to correct the direction we are heading it is going
to be all over.

America is no longer the leader in the world. We are slowly letting the government
drag us down and forcing us to rely on them.

When we hit the tipping point, the government can make us do anything they want
and then we will have only two classes, the extremely wealthy and the very poor.

That is not the America i want.

lilbear68

say what you will about the union labor but oddly enough the german auto worker makes well over $60.00/hr for building the same german car that the UAW here is paid at $15-20.00/hr

Phrenetic Phlynts-Tone

No study affirms a direct correlation between money spent on education and improved learning. On the contrary- more spending appears to correlate to decling test scores and higher illiteracy rates. All sectors, including education, have been taken over by an elite who benefit themselves to the detriment of those they are put in place to ostensibly help.

The answer is really quite simple: participate in the rigged system they have contrived for their own benefit as little as possible. The best way to begin that process is to throw away your television set. It keeps us fat, ignorant, and feeds us nothing true other than the cancer causing radiation it emits. Use the sense God gave you; don’t trust the electro-media. Learn to trust your fellow citizen down the street and the small business person. Refuse to support the transnational corporate oligarchy whenever and wherever possible. If enough of us do thisat the grass roots and hold politicians more accountable, the REAL “hope and change” we need WILL occur.

one old dog

The ruling Progressive Elites (Marxist/Fascist) ,including Hollywood and most of Academia, think we are too dumb to breed, eg: Planned parenthood, That we use too much of the worlds resources, so we should be reduced in numbers to a number that will keep the One Worlders comfortable, as their useful idiots, All this, while they steal our freedoms, and our money and pervert our children to their purposes. Hence the dumbing down, so we are more easily controlled, and its working! look at the lines in airports where we allow our persons to be molested, even our children and our elderly.
We have been sold out, by those we elect to protect us, They get very rich by pandering to powerful International forces, while emptying our treasury, surrendering our sovereignty and enacting unconstitutional laws then stacking the courts, to say they are Constitutional.They attack American citizens, while protecting undocumented foreigners,and importing more, to fill jobs they say we won’t take. Thats the LIE, we have tens of thousands of Engineers out of work in many fields but they just imported thousands from Overseas, because they work cheaper and if they complain they pull their green cards. Its not bringing the world up, its taking our Country down to collapse.which is the Ultimate goal. America and its people, are a stumbling block to those who would control the World

durp

Barack Obama just became president a couple of years ago. All this has been building up for decades. It’s not fair to blame Obama for this. Do you really think that if Romney were elected, he could fix all this?

My friends, both the Democrats and the Republicans are screwing us. They get us to fight among ourselves while they fill their pockets.

frostyspirit

the true american democracy went out the window after the 2000 election.

rollo

Actually, Frostyspirit, when the “fed” secured to itself the money power the country was doomed. One stupid war after another and the droids eagerly sacrificing themselves upon the alter of the war god. Do you vote? Fool! Our Congress critters are as corrupt, or more-so then any tinpot dictator in the bowels of Africa. We have now reached the point where it only takes three words to describe this “most colossal monkey-house an astonished world has ever witness”: Over- taxed, over-regulated and over-rated! It’s done, finished, gone and cannot be retrieved. Try to explain to the average ‘merikan nitwit who did it to us and why and you will be dismissed as being deranged. I gave up a long time ago; you deserve every bit if suffering you’re going to get. I wish it weren’t so, but….look about. Auf wiedersehen, ‘merika, you blew it!!!!